Livingston man is passionate about saving water

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelLenny Librizzi has installed rainwater harvesting systems in 50 city gardens, as well as at his own home in Livingston.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The long awaited climate change bill unveiled last week in Congress brought talk of pollution, waste reduction and environmental awareness to the nation’s capital and the television airways.

But long before the word “sustainable” became buzz-worthy, one Staten Islander began making use of an essential, replenishable resource: Rainwater.

Lenny Librizzi of Livingston has installed rainwater harvesting systems in 50 city gardens, in a project inspired and designed in the wake of the drought of 2001.

Based on an age-old way of irrigating crops in places where water is still considered a coveted resource, these collection devices serve a dual purpose here in the city: They conserve water in times of scarcity and, during downpours, they help keep run-off from the sewers, thereby sparing treatment plants that would otherwise have to process the overflow before it passes into natural waterways.

This past summer, working with Staten Island graduate student Mike Fenley, Librizzi took the back-to-the-future approach to conservation one step further by creating a prototype, human-powered pump to propel water from rain-collection tanks, uphill, into gardens.

“What we’re doing is to give people perspective on how not to pollute; it has a selfish motive in it for us. To survive and for our Island to survive, our environment needs to survive,” said Librizzi, who for more than two decades has worked with the not-for-profit Council on the Environment of New York City.

As he spoke, he put his feet on the pedals of the “treadle pump” in his back yard, which looks something like a clunky, wooden Stairmaster, but is actually a working device. With each step, air was pushed through hydraulic pumps jerry-rigged to be airtight using the rubber from flip-flops cut in circle shapes.

Water ran through a hose connected to a 165-gallon collection barrel and flowed through the device, then spurted from an opening in front, traveling uphill — no electricity needed.

Based on models in agrarian countries that don’t have access to electricity, treadle pumps are ideal for community gardens that also often lack a power connection.

For now, the tanks, which range up to 1,000 gallons, are in the process of being decommissioned to weather the winter.

But next summer, similar pumps may be installed in city gardens, even potentially at the Joseph Holzka Community Garden in West Brighton, as part of a planned rainwater harvesting installment there.

For now, only one Staten Island garden has a rainwater collection system, the Westervelt Community and Family Garden in New Brighton, said Librizzi.

“The rainwater harvesting system is important; it’s less water going to the treatment facilities,” said Fenley, who grew up in Meiers Corners and received a bachelor’s degree in forest engineering and is working toward a master’s in structural engineering at Syracuse University. “In that respect, it’s having a sustainable aspect.”

But getting people to buy into the value of simplicity in these fast-paced times represents much of the process, said Librizzi, who teaches workshops on rainwater to teens.

“The social part is the real key,” said Librizzi, who dubs himself a social ecologist. “That’s where you can make it work.”